Essentially this article is what Salvatore dislikes about the iPhone 4 with two gratuitous paragraphs tacked onto the end about how he prefers to heroise those motivated by democratising access to the best technology rather than financial gain. I can only assume it was a controversial attempt at seeking attention (page views).
Even if you extremely dislike someone, it's best to maybe just keep your feelings to yourself immediately after their passing. Many people are in mourning and it's important to be mindful and respectful of that.
Personally I believe Steve was not motivated by money, he took a token $1 salary and to what extent is unknown, worked until the very end of his life, even though he was acutely aware of his own mortality.
I'm not an Apple fanboy and I don't deify Jobs, but I recognise and am grateful for his contributions. I also disagree with a lot things Apple has done in the past few years, but I think "What's wrong with the iPhone 4s" would have been just fine, and the rest is in slightly poor taste.
My apologies if you think I'm being over-sensitive.
I think part of the problem is that, from what I'm starting to understand, to talk in a critical way about a just passed away person in the US is a much bigger problem than in Europe.
So you take as an offense or lack of taste what is completely ok here.
I just said good things about the iPhone 4s itself, I'm probably going to take one. I just think that it is possible to build a company doing great things with a less closed vision, and with a less aggressive marketing.
For years they had people buying products just for a sort of mystic reason, even when the product was not better at all. Now they make you pay a lot for a phone (630 euros for an iPhone here in Italy) and the next year you can't run the new features even if they are just software, even if you want to pay for the additional software.
This is not a fair way to conduct business. This is a way to grab a lot of money, not to give access to the new way of communicating to everybody.
Steve jobs concurred a lot in creating this kind of culture. I like less products Google is creating, and I use Apple products, but Google is a better company from almost all the ethical point of views. They try to stay in the business while contributing to the world in a wider sense, not just for their customers.
I regret wasting time reading it. It's a rant about if you are rich then you're evil, then it's not a quality of being a hero. It's unfortune that someone with a reputation like him could post such a piece at this timing.
While I normally don't comment on controversial titles used to lure users, using a name of someone who recently died to do it is quite distasteful.
You could have just titled, "whats wrong with iPhone 4". But NO, you had to add "and why Jobs is not my hero" just to be a bit controversial and attract people.
Am I the only one who find this distasteful? And is not because it's Steve Jobs, or I am an Apple fan, I would have said this regardless of the person.
To me the most interesting aspect of the iPhone 4S is the camera. I really want the camera in my phone to be good, and I was planning to look at other phones and move away from iPhone (currently have a 3GS) until this phone was announced. The new camera makes that much harder.
Siri seems like a total irrelevance unless it works really, really, really well. Every AI application I've ever had to deal with has been a major disappointment.
Even if it works really, really well, I can't help but feel that I'm not going to use it that often unless I'm in the car. Am I the only one who finds it awkward to sit there talking out loud to my phone?
I'm not sure why he's assuming that Siri can run on the iPhone 4. From what I've heard, it is in fact rather processor-intensive, and therefore it can only run on the newer, dual-core A5.
That being said, it makes you wonder why it's not coming out on the iPad 2 as well, since it also has the A5.
Maybe it's more useful on a phone, which is used for contacting people and organizing things. Launch new tech where it's most compelling; people don't mind the problems as much, and you can iterate to improve - as Apple did for the iPod.
And holding it back makes it a selling point for the iPad 3.
"[Real heroes] want a world where everybody has access to the best technology, to the best hospitals, and making money is a side effect of contributing in a non evil way to the development of our culture."
I think that was pretty much true for Steve Jobs. See the Stanford speech where he says he's not interested in being the richest dead guy in the cemetary.
You can't just give away your product for free because than you go bankrupt. Also, concentration of wealth --- by charging a healthy price --- was in the case of Apple a net win for all of us, because it gave them the resources and peace-of-mind to work on the Next Big Thing.
Apple is the modern day equivalent of the Great Pyramids.
All that meticulous design, all that money, all the sweat and tears - and for what? So that, for a price, we may all have beautiful, lickable technical gewgaws to idle away the hours.
Apple revolutionized media distribution, mobile entertainment, phones, and tablet computing - that much is obvious. They may even revolutionize more. People will wax mawkish and claim that Apple has "given" them happiness and wonderment. I suppose not unlike the awe in the eyes of ancient Egyptian commoners as they gazed up at their civilization's most lasting technical achievements.
But at what cost? Eighty billion dollars in the bank and literally the largest market cap in the world and Apple gives a pittance in the way of charitable donations. Their corporate charity pathetically dwarfed by that of peers such as Microsoft or Google. Even more so by their financial equals like Walmart or Exxon Mobil.
All that money, all that energy and potential for humanity and it all goes up on the most finely crafted of altars. Disappearing in nothing more than a nice, tight little cycle of ever obsoleting gadgetry.
While I don't really agree with the rest of the article, this was very well put:
> After all till yesterday Android was the state of art in voice interaction. But apparently Google is not able to connect the dots: they solve a given problem in a great way, that is, translating speech to text, but they can't translate that into great user experience for their users.
It's true - Apple didn't invent the tablet, touchscreen, mp3 player, etc. but they bring it to the masses with a great user experience (and rabid obsessive fanbase). It's not a guarantee but it's likely that voice interaction will improve and become a larger part of device interaction.
He doesn't have to be a hero to be missed. I'd like to think there are many people out that are missed terribly when the pass regardless of wether or not they were heros. Sometimes just being yourself is enough.
This article could really be condensed into one sentence. It seems the main beef is the author thinks Siri should work with the iPhone 4, making this upgrade unnecessary. With Siri system integration as advertised in the keynote, more processing will be done phone side, which will require a hardware upgrade.
As a developer, the enhanced hardware opens up avenues for many interesting app ideas. I'm particularly excited about display mirroring for games.
The greatest innovation in this release of the iPhone (Siri) is actually just a software thing. It is really cool, but they could have put it in iOS5 for iPhone 4 users to have as well.
On the hardware front there really is nothing truly new, just better and faster. That is fine, but with an extra 4 months tacked onto the product dev cycle for this release, I think people (myself included) expected more.
They may well give it to iPhone 4 users too. I wouldn't be surprised if they released it as an iPhone 4 and iPad 2 update some time in the future.
Why not do it now? Because Siri is still beta, causes server load, and they want to limit just how many millions of new users it will have to suddenly serve from one day to the next.
Every one have/can express their own opinion being said that but speaking about some one dead recently on the merits of subjective term ('hero') is quite distasteful (IMHO) and makes me sad, makes me even sadder since it came from some one i respect.
I'm not a fan boy ( never owns a Apple made products so far) just that i don't think its going to constructive for any one around here, YMMV
"As for us, we’re just doing what we can to try and make (and preserve) the user experience we envision. You can disagree with us, but our motives are pure.
By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you…just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?"
"Siri, open Facebook app" (or whatever other non-built-in app)
I think that is a use case that would be pretty popular, unfortunately it does not look like that is something Siri can do yet. Maybe a future release.
All that means is that some people are voting your story up, and others are flagging. Depending on when you look you may see it on the front page or not.
It's cool if you expected more, just vote with your dollars and buy something else. There's no need to be upset about what the iPhone is, because no one is forcing you to buy an iPhone.
Personally I think it looks like a nice upgrade to my 3GS and I'm excited to get one. I know that liking the same product that tens of millions of people also like makes me a fanboy, but what can I say.
[+] [-] sjtgraham|14 years ago|reply
Even if you extremely dislike someone, it's best to maybe just keep your feelings to yourself immediately after their passing. Many people are in mourning and it's important to be mindful and respectful of that.
Personally I believe Steve was not motivated by money, he took a token $1 salary and to what extent is unknown, worked until the very end of his life, even though he was acutely aware of his own mortality.
I'm not an Apple fanboy and I don't deify Jobs, but I recognise and am grateful for his contributions. I also disagree with a lot things Apple has done in the past few years, but I think "What's wrong with the iPhone 4s" would have been just fine, and the rest is in slightly poor taste.
My apologies if you think I'm being over-sensitive.
[+] [-] antirez|14 years ago|reply
So you take as an offense or lack of taste what is completely ok here.
I just said good things about the iPhone 4s itself, I'm probably going to take one. I just think that it is possible to build a company doing great things with a less closed vision, and with a less aggressive marketing.
For years they had people buying products just for a sort of mystic reason, even when the product was not better at all. Now they make you pay a lot for a phone (630 euros for an iPhone here in Italy) and the next year you can't run the new features even if they are just software, even if you want to pay for the additional software.
This is not a fair way to conduct business. This is a way to grab a lot of money, not to give access to the new way of communicating to everybody.
Steve jobs concurred a lot in creating this kind of culture. I like less products Google is creating, and I use Apple products, but Google is a better company from almost all the ethical point of views. They try to stay in the business while contributing to the world in a wider sense, not just for their customers.
[+] [-] josscrowcroft|14 years ago|reply
I'm definitely no fanboy, but these "[Something controversial], and why I'm [something controversial]" titles really get my goat.
[+] [-] jemeshsu|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] flyosity|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danielpal|14 years ago|reply
You could have just titled, "whats wrong with iPhone 4". But NO, you had to add "and why Jobs is not my hero" just to be a bit controversial and attract people. Am I the only one who find this distasteful? And is not because it's Steve Jobs, or I am an Apple fan, I would have said this regardless of the person.
[+] [-] jgrahamc|14 years ago|reply
Siri seems like a total irrelevance unless it works really, really, really well. Every AI application I've ever had to deal with has been a major disappointment.
[+] [-] Aqua_Geek|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] herge|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kyleslattery|14 years ago|reply
That being said, it makes you wonder why it's not coming out on the iPad 2 as well, since it also has the A5.
[+] [-] sunsu|14 years ago|reply
http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/04/the-original-siri-app-gets-...
[+] [-] 6ren|14 years ago|reply
And holding it back makes it a selling point for the iPad 3.
[+] [-] Maro|14 years ago|reply
I think that was pretty much true for Steve Jobs. See the Stanford speech where he says he's not interested in being the richest dead guy in the cemetary.
You can't just give away your product for free because than you go bankrupt. Also, concentration of wealth --- by charging a healthy price --- was in the case of Apple a net win for all of us, because it gave them the resources and peace-of-mind to work on the Next Big Thing.
[+] [-] ryandvm|14 years ago|reply
All that meticulous design, all that money, all the sweat and tears - and for what? So that, for a price, we may all have beautiful, lickable technical gewgaws to idle away the hours.
Apple revolutionized media distribution, mobile entertainment, phones, and tablet computing - that much is obvious. They may even revolutionize more. People will wax mawkish and claim that Apple has "given" them happiness and wonderment. I suppose not unlike the awe in the eyes of ancient Egyptian commoners as they gazed up at their civilization's most lasting technical achievements.
But at what cost? Eighty billion dollars in the bank and literally the largest market cap in the world and Apple gives a pittance in the way of charitable donations. Their corporate charity pathetically dwarfed by that of peers such as Microsoft or Google. Even more so by their financial equals like Walmart or Exxon Mobil.
All that money, all that energy and potential for humanity and it all goes up on the most finely crafted of altars. Disappearing in nothing more than a nice, tight little cycle of ever obsoleting gadgetry.
I'm over it.
[+] [-] watty|14 years ago|reply
> After all till yesterday Android was the state of art in voice interaction. But apparently Google is not able to connect the dots: they solve a given problem in a great way, that is, translating speech to text, but they can't translate that into great user experience for their users.
It's true - Apple didn't invent the tablet, touchscreen, mp3 player, etc. but they bring it to the masses with a great user experience (and rabid obsessive fanbase). It's not a guarantee but it's likely that voice interaction will improve and become a larger part of device interaction.
[+] [-] alexwolfe|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdouble|14 years ago|reply
As a developer, the enhanced hardware opens up avenues for many interesting app ideas. I'm particularly excited about display mirroring for games.
[+] [-] nathanwdavis|14 years ago|reply
The greatest innovation in this release of the iPhone (Siri) is actually just a software thing. It is really cool, but they could have put it in iOS5 for iPhone 4 users to have as well.
On the hardware front there really is nothing truly new, just better and faster. That is fine, but with an extra 4 months tacked onto the product dev cycle for this release, I think people (myself included) expected more.
[+] [-] pilif|14 years ago|reply
Now with the 4S, we get more speed and a better camera again. I really don't see a problem here. You are free to skip this years phone.
[+] [-] swombat|14 years ago|reply
Why not do it now? Because Siri is still beta, causes server load, and they want to limit just how many millions of new users it will have to suddenly serve from one day to the next.
[+] [-] thebootstrapper|14 years ago|reply
I'm not a fan boy ( never owns a Apple made products so far) just that i don't think its going to constructive for any one around here, YMMV
[+] [-] alexwolfe|14 years ago|reply
"As for us, we’re just doing what we can to try and make (and preserve) the user experience we envision. You can disagree with us, but our motives are pure.
By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you…just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?"
- Steve Jobs
[+] [-] nathanwdavis|14 years ago|reply
I think that is a use case that would be pretty popular, unfortunately it does not look like that is something Siri can do yet. Maybe a future release.
[+] [-] revorad|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] antirez|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] antirez|14 years ago|reply
Edit: restored online. Don't know what to think.
[+] [-] jgrahamc|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] J3L2404|14 years ago|reply
Can I have my comment points back now?
[+] [-] funkah|14 years ago|reply
Personally I think it looks like a nice upgrade to my 3GS and I'm excited to get one. I know that liking the same product that tens of millions of people also like makes me a fanboy, but what can I say.
[+] [-] antirez|14 years ago|reply
Still it is an unfair marketing strategy from Apple.